XLR

Latest

On the calendar

· Trade shows and launch events, this week's stories from each corner of the industry, and what its press is covering.

On view

This week, from that corner the newest stories from the corner of the industry you picked

The wire their own posts, translated

How records get made in 2026 from the industry's own reports

Sources

Fetched every three hours, linked to the original

About

XLR is a magazine, a radar and a diary about music gear and the making of music — for the people who make records and put on shows, wherever they do it.

The name is the three-pin connector that every signal in the business passes through: the microphone on stage and in the booth, the line to the desk, the DMX cable that runs the lights. Studio, stage and lighting rig share it, and so does this magazine. Every few hours XLR collects what the makers shipped, what the reviewers heard, what the studios and the touring crews are doing, which producers and collectives are surfacing and what they are saying — synths and modular, plugins and DAWs, guitars and drums, microphones, monitors, PA and lights, the rooms and the people — from a few hundred sources in English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and more, then plots what is moving. The editor writes a letter every few days. Nothing is sold here; when a link leads to a shop, that is the maker's shop, not ours.

← XLR Archive

Guitar.comGuitars

“There’s a couple of ex-girlfriends’ pictures inside”: Billie Joe Armstrong reveals the secrets of his most iconic guitar

September 15

Of all the electric guitars in Billie Joe Armstrong ‘s collection, his Fernandes S-type – affectionately named “Blue”, and which he’s owned since just 12 years old – is far and away his favourite. The guitar has been wit

Electric guitars & amps

Read at Guitar.com ↗

GuitarsWatch guitar tech mastery in real time as Angine de Poitrine break a string during a live show Guitar.com

GuitarsWin a 75th Anniversary Fender Player II Precision Bass – here’s how to enter Guitar.com

GuitarsNoel Gallagher reveals the “best bit of advice I’ve ever been given” from Johnny Marr about buying guitars Guitar.com

“It’s about having a space that’s big enough to tell 132 years of stories” Gibson’s Mark Agnesi on why Miami’s new Gibson Garage is its biggest yet

Guitars“It’s about having a space that’s big enough to tell 132 years of stories” Gibson’s Mark Agnesi on why Miami’s new Gibson Garage is its biggest yet Guitar.com

One letter a week, in your inbox.